A NEW SPECIES, MAMMOUTH DURETTE | FULL PART & INTERVIEW
Words and photos, Joseph Roby
[caption id="attachment_9806" align="aligncenter" width="640"]
Gap to 50-50 | There was no photographer when he first landed it the first time. He was down to do it again to get a photo. There was no snow for the in-run so we had to carry some up the stairs with two guys and a push shovel. Someone called the cops because they thought Mammouth was trying to hang himself over the highway. He was just attaching the bungee. The police let us hit the spot, but we had to confirm he was not trying to kill himself.[/caption]First of all, where do you live and how old are you?
I live in Quebec City, and I’m 26 years old.
And where are you from?
I’m from a little shitty town called Matane. It’s a couple hours east of Quebec City.
Are there good snowboard hills around there?
Yeah, there’s a little shitty hill with no chairlift. I don’t even think they have a park anymore.
Here’s the question we all want to know. Where does the name Mammouth come from? Is that your real name?
[Laughs] No, my mom didn’t give me this name. My real name is Jean-Mathieu. A friend started calling me Mammouth a while back, I don’t remember why. I guess people liked it because it stuck around.
Do you think people relate it to your style of snowboarding?
My nickname? You’re a funny guy [laughs]. What do you think?
It’s definitely a good marketing name.
Yeah, maybe.
[caption id="attachment_9810" align="aligncenter" width="640"]
Switch Backside Wallride | We spent two days building and hitting this spot with Frank Bourgeois and Brothers Factory. Mammouth’s switch stance is as good as is regular stance, if not better.[/caption]Do you ride a lot at your local resort or do you only go street snowboarding?
I do ride the local parks in the beginning of the winter, and I try to go a couple times during the season, but I didn’t have a lot of time to ride resorts last season.
When have you started hitting street features? Can you remember your first spot?
Around 2005 probably. My first street spot was a shitty wooden rail. Maybe 12 stairs or something like that. We had a picnic table as a starter.
When did you film your first video part? Was that part of a movie?
In 2010, when I first moved to Quebec City, I filmed a part in All of Us, a Timebomb Distribution movie. Crazy winter, man.
I heard somewhere that filming a part for Videograss has been your dream as a snowboarder. How did it all come together?
Yeah, let’s say I’ve religiously watched every Videograss movie. So, I had this little part in Half Off. It was a surprise actually, and it will always remain one of the best memories of my life. I was at the High Cascade movie premiere with the Stepchild crew and I thought I’d have one or two tricks in the intro. But Jon Stark had put together a surprise part with all my clips that Tony had filmed that year. Thanks again to Jon Stark, Justin Meyer, Anthony Drolet and Stepchild snowboards.
What would be the next thing you’d want to achieve with snowboarding?
That’s a good one, too. I don’t know, I’d say make a lot of money, but for real I give a very little fuck about money. I liked the Stairs Masters contest a couple years ago. This is a cool format and I can admit that I’d like to participate in the X Games Real Snow competition, to really give everything I have in it, that would be something I’d like to achieve. Other than that, I just want to keep skating and snowboarding as long as I can.
Who’s your biggest snowboard influence?
It’s hard to say. I was always a big fan of Nic Sauvé. I could name a couple other guys like Eero Ettala, Louif [Paradis], Jed [Anderson]. There’s also the Dope movies, riders Alex Stathis and Layne Treeter.
[caption id="attachment_9811" align="aligncenter" width="640"]
Boardslide | Mammouth went here alone at night, built a in-run and ripped the rotting wood out of it in order to get his board sideways on this rail. A couple of guys did other tricks on it, but he’s the one responsible for making it possible.[/caption]What have you been up to the last winter?
I worked a lot, of course, like a full-time job, and I filmed as much as I could with the time I had. I spent the beginning of my winter riding with and helping Frank Bourgeois with his Real Snow part. That was a sick experience.
Where did you find time to shoot in the streets with such a busy schedule?
I don’t know. I didn’t get as many clips as I used to when filming full time. I had one or two days a week, maybe three sometimes to film in the streets. My eyes are constantly looking for the next spot to hit, though. When I work the day shift, I go out at night to scope and shovel. When I worked the night shift, I try to ride the spot during the day before going to work at 3:30 p.m. It’s not always easy to do but I try to take advantage of all the free time I have to find, prepare and ride my spots.
Where do you get the motivation to go out and film incredibly gnarly tricks between shifts?
There’s no special ways to do it. You go ride, like if you were not going to work the whole night. Of course, you’re tired, but you get over it and you just pour yourself another cup of coffee.
You had some heavy appearances in various Quebec movies last year, such as Beacon and The Bruners Video 2, what project have you been working on this winter?
Another really good question man [laughs]. I honestly don’t really know. I’m really stoked on this interview. We worked hard for to get the photos we wanted it. For footage, I’d really like to put together a solo part, with like 75 per cent snowboarding and 25 per cent skateboarding.
What about the Headstones? Does that crew still exist?
The Headstones have not made any movie for two or three winters now. Although the crew is still alive, we still hang out together a lot. Some started filming with the Bruners, some are filming less and less every winter. Everyone is advancing in their own way, that’s just normal. Shout out to Mickael Scremin, Anthony Drolet, Vince Grandmaison, Seb Picard, Max Desroches, Alexis BG, Oli Chabot, Mickael Belley.
Have you travelled a lot with snowboarding?
Not really. We cruised around the province of Quebec, to Chicoutimi and Sherbrooke, like every snowboarder who comes here. I’m still very focused on finding new stuff here in Quebec City. The only major trip I’ve been a part of was to Mount Hood with the Stepchild crew.
[caption id="attachment_9809" align="aligncenter" width="640"]
Switch Nosebonk to Wallride | We didn’t have to shovel much for this spot because of the natural windlip created by the rampart. Looks like these walls were just made for snowboarding.[/caption]I heard you were getting your driver’s license, congratulations on that! How was cruising around Quebec with no car?
You gotta be kidding me with that question man [laughs]. If you’ve ever seen a guy with a push shovel on the bus, that’s probably me. I often hide my shovels at the spot when I go back the next day, so that I don’t have to always carry them on the bus. Enough laughing at me, man, thanks to you for all the lifts you gave me and many thanks to all the Headstones crew for the countless lifts these guys gave me.
You have the reputation of being one of the hardest shovelers out there, tell me why?
Dude, I don’t have this reputation, you’re making it up right now [laughs]. Truth is, I really don’t care if I shovel by myself for hours, or days, if I really want to do something. I love to shovel and I take the time to make the spot feel comfortable. I think I have more fun shovelling it than riding it sometimes [laughs].
I have also witnessed some hammer skate clips and photos from you, would you say the Quebec skate scene is as good as its snowboard scene?
Quebec City has a great skate community. Everyone knows each other and are cool to each other. It is definitely not a big market though and we don’t have pro skaters like we have pro snowboarders. It’s easy to say there’s more snowboard tourism than skateboard tourism around here. Our long and cold winters are perfect for snowboarding but it damages the streets and concrete very fast for the skaters.
Thank you for letting me in the street game, dude. Anybody you would like to thank?
My sponsors Stepchild Snowboards, FIX bindings, Howl, Adidas, Plenty Humanwear. Lots of love for the Boutique du Skate. Thanks to Nuclear. Thanks to my parents, my girlfriend, Suzie, who keeps supporting me. Thanks to you, man, and to King Snow. Thanks to Gab Bélanger for everything. The filmers and photographers Mickael Scremin, Anthony Drolet, Will Demers, Charles Demers, Hayden Rensch, Eric Saint-Laurent, Charles Frédérick Ouellet, Oli Gagnon, Oli Delisle, Jo Briss. Thanks to Vince, Seb, Max, Steph Fortier, Mitch Grégoire, Chabot, Belley, Alexis, JP Moreen, Phil Fournier, Frank Bourgeois, Louif Paradis, LNP, Frank April, Alexis Chagnon, Alex Fortin, Phil Trifiro. Thanks to everybody.
